1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems having optional delivery of multiple and mixed-phase media into liquids using partial vacuum control. Particularly, the present invention relates to systems that form mini microbubbles. More particularly, the present invention relates to aeration systems. Additionally, the present invention relates to enhancing the biological treatment of liquids.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98
Mixing, by introducing media, such as a gas or a solid or a liquid or a combination thereof, to a liquid is a common practice when treating liquids such as fresh water, salt water and all types of waste water. As an example, aeration by the introduction of atmospheric air containing oxygen into water is one of the most common methods used to biologically support the aerobic treatment of these liquids. Aerobic treatment of carbonaceous waste requiring an adequate supply of oxygen is much more efficient than anaerobic treatment of carbonaceous waste.
The introduction of various combinations of other gases, liquids, and solids into these liquids is often desirable and beneficial. A variety of biological inoculations and chemical supplements are often used to affect microbial activity and adjust chemical levels. While chlorination is commonly used in fresh water purification, nutrient additions to wastewater microbial cultures are similarly used to regulate and adjust levels of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous. The chemical oxidation and reduction of compounds in a liquid such as water to accomplish de-nitrification and phosphorous remediation are also common. Desirable biological, chemical and physical activity results in problematic foaming that accumulates on a liquid surface, interferes with normal apparatus operation, and can present a nuisance.
Aerators are used to treat a wide variety of liquids and liquid volumes for a wide variety of applications. Examples of such uses include treating aquariums, septic tanks, ponds, process tanks, municipal treatment plants, lagoons, streams, lakes and oceans.
The use of microbubbles filled with atmospheric air as their media has been used to provide an effective treatment for beneficial aerobic microbial remediation. The liquid under treatment can have conditions requiring mixing, quiescence, or a combination thereof. When larger bubbles are formed, they rapidly rise to the surface of a liquid and gain in volume as the liquid pressure decreases while the bubbles rise. These larger bubbles may be captured at various depths and reprocessed into smaller bubbles. Smaller bubbles remain in liquid for a longer period of time, impart less mixing, and are moved by eddy currents and the Brownian movement of liquids. A mini microbubble is smaller than a microbubble, remains in liquid longer than a microbubble, and imparts a milky appearance to liquids. Mini microbubbles easily flow, rapidly diffuse, and linger within a liquid. Mini microbubbles also have more surface area than larger bubbles. Because gas transfer to liquids is a function of the ratio of surface area to volume, the smaller mini microbubbles have a greater transfer potential and are better for aeration. Thus, there is a need for systems that can create mini microbubbles for the treatment of a liquid.
Creation of a partial vacuum under water can be achieved with displacement of a liquid media. Such measures have been used in prior art to produce a mixture of bubbles of various sizes. Managing the dynamic fluid forces that occur during the mixing, or in particular, during aeration is important in order to produce optimum bubble sizes. Methods using a partial vacuum source to collectively select media from different depths in a liquid at specific points, visibly observe, or hold for sampling, have been used. Methods to dispense media positioned above, in or below the liquid surface are also known and used.
A quantity of gas, such as air, that is released into water under a partial vacuum creates an unstable bubble, termed a “vacuum bubble,” which rapidly adjusts its volume until its pressure reaches equilibrium. Thus, a system for precisely controlling the size, quality and quantity of gas bubbles by using the partial-vacuum variables of pressure and volume based on the Gas Law P1V1=P2V2 is needed.
Various patents have issued related to aeration systems. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,194,144, issued on Mar. 16, 1993 to Blough, discloses an improved aeration device for septic tanks which allows fine bubbles of air to aerate waste material in the tank so that aerobic bacteria may fully perform their decomposing function. Air enters the upper end of a shaft and exists adjacent a propeller. The propeller is protected from interfering with its bubble formation action by a guard bushing concentrically positioned in the air tube so that typical non-organic waste adulterants, such is plastic and rubber materials that are often found in septic tanks, are not drawn into the propeller to interfere with its action.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,676,889, issued on Oct. 14, 1997 to Belgin, discloses an apparatus for aerating and mixing liquids and gases that includes a hollow housing, at least one rotating object, a rotating apparatus for rotating the rotating object, a shaft, and at least one adjustably positioned conduit tube. The hollow housing has a first portion and a second portion. The first portion has a wall that contains at least one port and the second portion has a wall that contains at least one outflow port. The rotating object is located in the second portion and has a low-pressure side. The rotating apparatus rotates the rotating object and is located in the first portion. The shaft connects the rotating object to the rotating apparatus. The adjustably-positioned conduit tube passes through the inflow port and has a first end externally located from the hollow housing. The conduit tube also has a second end located in the low-pressure side so that, upon rotation of the rotating object, a substance can be drawn from the first end to the low-pressure side.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,245,237, issued on Jun. 12, 2001 to Blough et al., discloses an improved method for aeration of septic tanks and the like by drawing atmospheric air into an expansion chamber and, from there, into agitated sludge to provide low-pressure small microbubbles which have long hold times in the sludge material.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,254,066, issued on Jul. 3, 2001 to Drewery, discloses an apparatus for aerating liquid in a wastewater treatment tank having a submergible motor with a shaft extending outwardly therefrom, a supporting member affixed to the submergible motor and adapted to maintain the submergible motor in a position within the liquid in the wastewater treatment tank, a propeller affixed to the shaft of the submergible motor, a housing extending around the propeller and the shaft, and an air tube connected to the housing and adapted to pass air interior of the housing between the propeller and the motor. The housing has a tubular configuration with a diameter slightly greater than the diameter of the propeller. The housing will extending beyond an end of the propeller opposite the shaft. The air tube extends so as to have one end affixed to the housing and communicate with an interior of the housing at an opposite end opening to an area outside of the liquid in the wastewater treatment tank.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,461,500, issued on Oct. 8, 2002 to Hoage et al., discloses an improved method and apparatus for aeration of septic tanks and the like. Because of the interrelationship of the rotating impeller, an air plate, and the horsepower of the unit in comparison with the volumetric size of the sludge tank, the unit disperses extremely small reduced-pressure microbubbles adjacent the area of the impeller. These reduced pressure microbubbles are thereafter dispersed throughout the wastewater by Brownian movement without agitating the sludge. As a result, there is substantially increased lateral oxygen transfer to replace the oxygen used by the aerobic bacteria. The sludge is therefore efficiently digested without the need for huge, expensive and energy-inefficient equipment.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,241,615, issued on Jul. 10, 2007 to St. Lawrence, discloses a wet combustion engine that has a wet combustion chamber within a bioreactor system, an integrated computer control system that, proactively and pre-emptively, uses feedback from bio-sensors to monitor, record, and control applicable components of the bioreactor system, and a wet combustion diffusion separation-membrane chamber located within a life-support chamber of the bioreactor. In the intake cycle, a suitably prepared fuel mixture is metered into the wet combustion diffusion separation membrane chamber located within the life-support chamber of the bioreactor. In the combustion cycle, diffusion and combustion rates are monitored and timed. In the exhaust cycle, products of combustion, including water and incomplete combustion by-products both organic and inorganic, are removed.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,306,722, issued on Dec. 11, 2007 to Hoage, discloses an improved apparatus and method to increase lateral oxygen transfer in wastewater which eliminates rotating impellers and air plates. As a result, less horsepower per unit can be used to achieve smaller entrained air bubbles resulting in increased residence time and enhanced lateral oxygen transfer to replace oxygen consumed by aerobic bacteria during the biodegradation process. It may be used on industrial waste water sources of all types which are biodegradable by aerobic bacteria.
It is an object of the present invention to mix at least one media with a liquid.
It is another object of the present invention to mix media with a liquid using partial vacuum pressure.
It is another object of the present invention to produce mini microbubbles that are smaller than microbubbles.
It is still another object of the present invention to produce optimal mini microbubbles for any given media and liquid combination.
It is another object of the present invention to create long-lasting mini microbubbles.
It is another object of the present invention to remove odor and solids from waste water.
It is another object of the present invention to chemically treat liquids, such as water.
It is still another object of the present invention to transfer gases, such as dissolved oxygen, in aquaculture.
It is another object of the present invention to deliver, monitor, and control combinations of media, including gases and liquids and solids, with or without mixing.
It is another object of the present invention to use chemical and physical processes that benefit from enhanced dissolution, catalytic combinations, extractions, and remediation.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a system for forming mini microbubbles which enhances the quiecense of the treated liquids.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a system for forming mini microbubbles that avoids any possibility of clogging.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the attached specification and appended claims.